Records

Ave.

Ave.

0-0

Final Four

0-0

0-0

Playoffs

0-0

0-0

Top 16

0-0

0-0

Regular Season

0-0

2-5

Overall

4-3

Referees

Crew Chief

ZAVLANOS, NIKOLAOS, Greece

Referee

TAURINO, PAOLO, Italy

Umpire

BITTON, MOSHE, Israel

The Take

Looking at one of its last, best chances to join the contenders in Group A, RheinEnergie Cologne hosts Dynamo Moscow, a team still lacking its first road win, on Thursday in Dusseldorf, Germany. The hosts will be looking for a crucial home win to fuel their chances of reaching the Top 16. RheinEnergie (2-5) has lost its last two games and sits in sixth place. The German champs must also play five of their last six games on the road, making this chance to win at home all the more important. Dynamo (4-3) holds third place and can move within one victory of second by winning since group leaders Tau Ceramica and Olympiacos face each other. Dynamo will draw confidence from having already defeated RheinEnergie in the season opener for both, 75-68 in Russia. Travis Hansen scored a season-high 18 points in that game for Dynamo, while center Lazaros Papadopoulos added 14 points and 8 rebounds. Papadopoulos returned last week from a month-long injury lay-off to score 20 points in Dynamo's 90-83 home win over Efes. His presence could create a headache for coach Sasa Obradovic's men, though RheinEnergie center Marcin Gortat (11.3 ppg., 4.3 rpg., 1.3 bpg.) has been having a break-out season himself. RheinEnergie's top players have been shooter Marcus Faison (16.3 ppg., 59.3% 3FG) and do-it-all forward Ronnie Burrell (11.9 ppg., 6.3 rpg.), while Demond Mallett runs things from the point. In Papadopoulos's absence, Dynamo leaned more heavily on forward Antonis Fotsis (13.4 ppg., 5.6 rpg.), swingman Hansen (11.9 ppg.) and point guard Bojan Popovic (10.9 ppg., 2 spg.) for points. Coach Dusan Ivkovic's side is known for its stingy defense, which allows a mere 72 points per game – the fewest in Group A. Hansen will make things difficult on Faison, while having big Papadopoulos back in the paint allows the rest of the defenders to cheat more, although he himself must be careful of fouls with backup Andrei Trushkin left home in Moscow due to injury. One of Dynamo's weaknesses is that it draws 25.7 fouls per game, but makes just 67.7% of its free throws. A key to victory for RheinEnergie is cutting down on its league-high 19.4 turnovers per game. Possible barometers for their team's success this week are Gortat, who will have a hefty responsibility against Papadopoulos, and Hansen, who can break the game open on either side, whether it be his shooting and slashing ability or by shutting down Faison.

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Euroleague.net, Jan Hieronimi (Cologne)

Quotes Head Coaches

OBRADOVIC, SASA

RheinEnergie

"In our first game against Moscow, we were too nervous. We were hectic, played without good organization. And that game being our first in the Euroleague, we might have had too much respect for our opponent. Still, we could have won if not for some mistakes we made. Both teams have changed since then. Moscow has some new players that they didn’t have when we first met. And my team has also changed, as they have grown over the course of the first half of the season. We’re doing a better job now than we did at the beginning. And I am confident that with every game we play, we’ll improve and gain more experience."

IVKOVIC, DUSAN

Dynamo Moscow

"Our calendar in December is very hard and our target is to try to give some kind of stability to our play, especially in away games. We have too much difference between our home and away games, especially in the Euroleague. Until now we played one good first half, in Vitoria, and one solid second half, in Athens against Olympiacos, but not one complete game. Now, we will try to do this. Cologne its strong team, with five experienced American players, but I hope that we have a chance for our first away victory. Our situation with injury players still complicated, we will go with 11 players, and without Raicevic, Trushkin or Ivanov. Raicevic was very close to coming back on the team, but finally I decided to leave him in Moscow for a couple more individual practices. I expect that he can be ready for our home game on Sunday in the Russian League."

Players

McELROY, IMMANUEL

RheinEnergie

"Dynamo is a good, experienced team. We had a chance to get a win up there in our first game, but came up short, and now to win at home, we have to go out and play Cologne basketball. They like to throw the ball inside, run their halfcourt sets, whereas we like to run our fastbreaks. And we have to make sure we keep playing our style of basketball. So far, we have been playing well, we just haven't gotten the wins. We have improved with every game, be it shooting, rebounding, executing our offense or playing together as a team."

POPOVIC, BOJAN

Dynamo Moscow

"This will probably be a crucial game for our classification to the Top 16. If we win, we will be very close to our target. We didn't play well last Sunday against CSKA in the Russian League, but until now we always have made a positive reaction after losing games and I hope that the same will happen in Dusseldorf. Cologne is a positive surprise in our group. Before the start, everybody believed that the German champion would be an easy opponent, but they have shown that have a very good team. I think that we must stop their outside shooters. Mallet, Faison and Sljivancanin are very good shooters while the center Gortat in each game confirms his talent. No doubt it will be a very hard game, but I am optimistic and expect our first victory away."

Dynamo Moscow got its first Euroleague road win and moved closer to its initial goal of making the Top 16 from Group A by downing RheinEnergie 82-96 in Dusseldorf, Germany on Thursday. Dynamo held onto third place in the group with a 5-3 record while RheinEnergie now ties for the seventh place at 2-6. Lazaros Papadopoulos led the winners with 25 points on 8-for-11 two-pointers, 9 of 10 free throws and 8 rebounds. Travis Hansen added 19 points while hitting 8 of 9 free throws, Antonis Fotsis had 18 and went 7 of 7 from the line while Eddie Gill added 12 points for Dynamo. Marcus Faison had 17 points for RheinEnergie. Demond Mallet added 13, Ronnie Burrell 12, Guido Grunheid and Immanuel McElroy 10 each. Dynamo led 18-31 midway through the second quarter and kept a slim lead for the rest part of the game. A layup by Faison, however, got RheinEnergie within 70-74 with 6 minutes to go, but a 4-11 run which Dmitry Domani capped with a triple allowed Dynamo to seal the outcome.

RheinEnergie started the game with a pair of turnovers that Dynamo used to jump ahead on a layup by Papadopoulos and free throws by Domani. Marcin Gortat found Immanuel McElroy down low for Cologne’s first points, but a drive by Fotsis and free throws by Papadopoulos pushed Dynamo's lead to 2-8. Dynamo kept going inside to their big man, who hit back-to-back hook shots before Demond Mallett got hot for the hosts. The RheinEnergie point guard dropped a three-pointers in succession from the arc and Ronnie Burrell went coast-to-coast for a soaring jam to pull the hosts within 10-12. Dynamo answered with a run of its own, as Popovic made a running layup and Fotsis a fastbreak slam dunk. Mallet hit from midrange for RheinEnergie, and after free throws by Fotsis, Marcus Faison scored inside on a feed by Aleksandar Nadjfeji. With time ticking off the clock, Edward Gill drew a foul and hit both free throws for a 14-20 Dynamo lead after 10 minutes.

To begin the second quarter, Dynamo did its damage from outside, as Gill and Fotsis hit triples, and from inside, on a shot by Obinna Ekezie. Although Nadjfeji hit a tough fadeaway for RheinEnergie, Popovic landed Dynamo's third triple of the quarter already, giving his team their largest lead so far, 18-31. But Cologne fought back, with Burrell hitting a difficult scoop shot inside, Nadjfeji scoring on a fastbreak, and Mladen Sljivancanin downing 2 free throws, cutting the deficit to 24-31. Dynamo struggled now with outside shooting but rebounded the misses before Travis Hansen finally hit from the corner to make it 24-34. Burrell kept going down low for Cologne, earning 4 free throws attempts and making 3 of them. Papadopoulos hit a hook shot for Dynamo, but Burrell answered with a three-point play off an offensive rebound. After Hansen hit 1 of 2 free throws, Nadjfeji drove inside for a layup to make it 32-39 at halftime.

Gill opened the second half with a tip-in of a Hansen miss on the break for Dynamo. Mallet and Faison boosted RheinEnergie by drilling three-pointers that cut the difference to 3 points, 38-41. Dynamo turned again to Papadopoulos, and he responded by downing a hook shot then stealing and passing full-court to Fotsis, who converted a three-point play. When Papadopoulos dropped 2 more hook shots and Hansen drove for a layup, Dynamo led 40-52 and RheinEnergie needed a timeout. Afterwards, Nadjfeji drove for a layup and Faison blocked a shot and hit a triple to spark the hosts. Despite subsequent baskets by Gortat and Faison, however, Domani reappeared with a shot from downton to boost the Dynamo lead to 10 points again, 49-59. Yet again, RheinEnergie came back. McElroy got 2 baskets inside, sandwiched around a three-pointer by Gill. Guido Grunheid dunked and then fed Nadjfeji for an open layup. Nadjfeji's steal sent McElroy for a tough layup on the break, making it 59-63. That difference remained after the teams traded free throws and jumpers by Hansen and McElroy to fix a 63-67 scoreboard after 30 minutes.

Fotsis opened the fourth quarter with free throws and Ekezie scored inside with a hook shot to push Dynamo up by 63-71. Grundheid provided 5 points in response for RheinEnergie, following free throws with a three-pointer to keep the hosts close at 68-71. Hansen answered with a three-point play for Dynamo and Faison hit a tough layup assisted by Nadjfeji for RheinEnergie. But that's when Dynamo proved to be tough-minded as Popovic and Dimitry Khvostov put down 4 throws, while Papdopolous soon added another hook free throws to extend the lead to 10 points, 72-82, with 3 minutes left. Still, RheinEnergie shot back, as Faison scored 5 quick points on a triple and free throws, but that was the last gasp for the hosts. Hansen scored 5 points in the closing minutes and Domani hit a triple as the visitors ran away to a convincing 82-96 road win.

Head Coaches

OBRADOVIC, SASA

RheinEnergie

"I have learned to never comment on the referees. We have to learn from our mistakes, not from those of the refs. We had planned to stop Papadopoulos by trapping him with different people. This can work for some parts of the game. Unfortunately, he is very good at reading those situations, and the other players scored a lot of points at the end of the game. The better team won. After a couple of injuries Moscow is back now, and I expect them to get better and better from here on."

IVKOVIC, DUSAN

Dynamo Moscow

"We tried to stop Cologne’s transition game and to bring their offensive numbers down a little bit. Except for their turnovers their numbers are actually better than those of my team. We did a good job of taking control of this game. Papadopoulos is definitely back after being out with his injury. I think we deserved this victory. Although we have some very experienced players, until today our game wasn’t balanced, and on the road we played very badly. I’m very satisfied with our first victory on the road."

HANSEN, TRAVIS

Dynamo Moscow

"They played very well. They have gained a lot of experience in the meantime, and played a good game. It was tough for us, we had to fight. Give credit to our team for playing hard for 40 minutes. I think the refs were pretty fair. The momentum went our way in the fourth quarter after that non-call. We were very well prepared. Papadopoulos helped us out a lot, and Obinna as well. With those two guys up front, we need more time to play together, but the sky is the limit for us."